AllFreeNovel
Share Us
2
“We can’t allow him to escape,” Anders growled out, rage warring with frustration. He longed to shift to his wolf form, to tear after the bastard of a wolf, but he had to help Misti back to her feet first.
Her face was the unadulterated picture of frustration, apprehension, and wrath. “You think I don’t know that,” she snapped. For a second, he thought she would slap his hand away, but she accepted his aid and jumped to her feet. “The last thing we need is for him or anyone else to tell my father about us surviving his attack—”
“And killing all of his werewolves.”
She shuddered. Absurdly, he wanted to hold her, to comfort her. When his father had exiled him, for the first month or so, Anders had lived in constant fear that his father would send someone to kill him. He expected such brutality from his father. While Misti had made it quite clear her father didn’t love her, he could tell from her rage that this was the first time he had gone after her, and while it might have been expected eventually, she was obviously shaken up over it.
The she-wolf changed her form, and as soon as her four paws touched the ground, she slipped through the shadows of the trees. Groaning, Anders followed suit. His body ached, especially his ribs, but he could run easily enough, so long as he didn’t inhale too deeply. His hopefully only bruised ribs didn’t appreciate that.
The stench that Jed character left behind was easy enough to follow… at first. He led them straight to a river, and they couldn’t determine if he had continued along upstream or if he crossed to the other bank, and if so, where.
Misti barked at him, and he knew better than to disobey this time. During the battle, she had warned him to stay by her side, but he had taken on the five remaining wolves by himself, and that had not gone well.
She jumped onto the far bank and pointed a paw toward the other side. Anders climbed back onto the near side. While she shook off the water clinging to her fur, he didn’t bother with such vicious shaking. His body didn’t need the extra beating.
For a long while, they took their time, sniffing along their respective banks, trying desperately to pick up the disgustingly musky scent of Jed. Each mile they logged had despair weighing heavier on Anders. They had lost him.
By now, the sun was beginning to emerge, filtering down through the tall branches and bountiful leaves. Anders could feel the heat of the sun burning him, and he was sweating profusely. Just from the excursion. He hoped.
To his left, he spied a willow tree. He shifted his form to human and broke off some of the bark. “Misti.”
She halted, turned toward him, her body in full attack mode. When she saw him, her tail lowered somewhat. The she-wolf had to feel even more upset than he did. While he had taken more of a beating between the two of them during the battle, she must be hurting too.
“Have some.” He held the bark out toward her. It would help with their body aches, and if he did have a fever, it would aid with that too.
Misti hesitated. With obvious reluctance, she bounded down the embankment, splashed through the water, and joined him. As she shifted form, she held out her hand and accepted the makeshift medicine.
Once they both had some, as well as a few berries from a nearby bush—which did not make for a nearly substantial enough meal for them in their wounded states—Misti rubbed near one of her wounds. While they had to strip their clothes in order to change forms or else rip through them, their bandages had stayed mostly intact. One of hers was bright red now, and he didn’t want to see how his were faring.
“We need to keep going,” she said doggedly.
“We shouldn’t push ourselves too hard,” he warned. “His lead is too great, and we aren’t sure where he is going.”
“He’s going straight to my father. Following this river will keep us from finding him immediately, but it’s not the most direct route back to my father. We can cut him off—”
“Or maybe he is now suspicious of your father for having sent wolves after you,” he pointed out.
Misti shook her head. “His pride will force him to seek out my father. He will want to know why his fiancée was marked for death. Not that he cares about me, just my position in the pack, which isn’t anything now.”
“He doesn’t care for you?”
“He doesn’t know me or cared to ever get to know me,” she said bitterly.
How terrible. This Jed was a bigger fool than he thought.
“He is a moron.”
“He is on his way to my father. He will launch a retaliation that will make the ten wolves he sent us look like a peace offering.” She started back the way they had come.
“Where are you going?”
“To see if there aren’t any tracks leading away from the battle from a different spy. I’m in the mood to kill something, and I would prefer a werewolf to a meal.”
Well, a source of protein they both needed badly, but he wasn’t about to argue with her.
Without another word, he followed after her. He hated feeling like he had failed her. Jed had spilled through their clutches, and now the danger they were in would only increase.
